Five
by a sea of sound
Summary: the number of times Hugh makes Rosa cry. —for HughMAY week.


i.

* * *

Rosa watches with fascination dancing in her eyes as the water around her becomes bubbly and frothy, her little face lighting up in delight. At the age of two, she is curious, playful and a little bit selfish, but that's how all children start out.

Her aunty Audrey takes a small bucket and pours water over her brunette head, and in fear she hugs herself and scrunches her face as the cold hits her; Laurie's working again, so she drops her daughter off at her best friend's house (and partly because Rosa's a little lonely without siblings and a father). Sitting beside her Hugh toys with a tiny replica of the Royal Unova from Castelia and makes little engine sounds. His blue hair clings to his forehead like ivy on an old building.

As mischievous as can be, Hugh decides that it's a good idea to splash Rosa in the face with the soapy water; besides, she's taking up a lot of the space that's usually reserved for him. The two-year-old rubs her eyes and bawls at the same time, already an avid multi-tasker. Her cries are a little bit loud and her shrieks very high-pitched, causing Hugh to cover his ears with his pudgy hands.

Audrey tuts at her son before picking Rosa up out of the tub. She pats the little girl's crystal blue eyes with a soft white towel, running a comforting hand on her back. Irritation eats at the woman lightly, but she remembers that the reason why she became a nursery school teacher is because she loves children, despite the many frustrations of raising them.

Hugh refuses to listen to his mother's demands to apologize to Rosa in lieu of playing with his toy boat. After many scolds and reprimands, Audrey snatches away the boat while her son wails for his toy back. He mumbles an unintelligible apology while he hiccups, and Audrey gathers him up in her arms and rubs him down with a towel.

In spite of it all, Rosa smiles widely at him when he offers her his favorite toy boat.

* * *

ii.

* * *

Middle school is rough.

Already Rosa's been yelled at for forgetting her notebook in her locker, scorned for trying to start a conversation with some of the other girls, and rejected a seat at the lunch table. She wonders when the torturous days will end when the bell rings after eighth period, and she quickly flees the classroom without making a stop at her locker.

Hugh told her middle school was great. They had their own lockers, the teachers weren't mean old crows, and they were given a lot more freedom than in elementary school. For those reasons, Rosa had been excited to transition from one school to another, though the tumult died later on when she'd experience her first days.

But that was simply easy to say for her best friend, because Hugh was always popular and blended in well with his peers, while Rosa, well, everyone thought she was odd. It wasn't that she couldn't fathom why, it was that there were too many reasons to believe. Her hair is too long. She's too happy all the time. She isn't allowed to talk to just everybody. She isn't pretty enough. She's too skinny. She's weird _weird weird_ for liking the things she likes, and for caring about school.

That wasn't the worst part.

Hugh ignores her, as if being a year ahead of her makes him so superior. He doesn't speak to her, doesn't look at her, doesn't think about her. Rosa isn't surprised, and she tries and tries and tries not to let that bother her but it does and it hurts. A lot.

Hastily making her way home, Rosa keeps her head down and her gaze trained on her polished uniform shoes. She struggles to come to terms with the fact that this will be her life for the next three years until she can go on a Pokémon journey of her own, and leave this godforsaken city that should really be called a town with its horrible pubescent residents and the best friend who really isn't a best friend anymore.

She disregards her mother's questions when she arrives back at home, slamming her bedroom door in the process. Laurie's concerned as a mother should be; Rosa never slams her door and she was so thrilled to be back in the same school as Hugh. However, her worst fears are confirmed when she finds her confident, happy daughter curled into the fetal position as she cries, not even bothering to take her shoes off.

Laurie sits at the edge of her bed and runs her fingers through Rosa's hair, which is still silky and shiny from her morning shower. She knows what it's like at this age, though she doesn't know what to say to placate her daughter. Times are different. People change. Rosa repeats that over and over again in her head while she avoids the thought of blue hair and crimson-red eyes.

* * *

iii.

* * *

Hugh was never good with apologies.

Because she knows this, Rosa decides not to let that bother her at graduation. She's more or less just content that Hugh came and didn't leave on a journey with his friends the year before. At the very least, he's made efforts toward rectifying their friendship, like actually talking to her and asking her about her day. Rosa doesn't hide her happiness because she has her best friend back, and what more could she want?

She cries when he asks her to go on a journey with him. It's because being young kind of sucks and she figures out that she loves him.

* * *

iv.

* * *

They journey together until they choose to go their separate ways.

When they reach Mistralton City for Rosa to get her sixth badge, Hugh doesn't think that he wants to travel anymore. He's seen enough of Unova, and wants to go back to school to study the Pokémon Rights branch of law. Rosa supports him because she loves him and he's always so good to her although her heart aches watching him fly back home to Aspertia.

Rosa continues on and on until she gets to the gates of the Pokémon League. A ring in her Xtransceiver prompts her to pick up because no one ever calls unless it's her mother, and Laurie has always been irregular with most things.

She's pleasantly surprised to hear Hugh's voice (which has noticeably gotten deeper) and see his face (which has noticeably become more masculine and angular) on the other end, though she's nothing short of astonished when he tells her "happy birthday".

Counting on her fingers the months she's been out, she realizes with a touch of sadness and remorse that she's forgotten her own birthday. And after various greets and easy conversation, she trudges on to the biggest challenge of her life, more motivated than anything to reach victory.

Rosa doesn't win against Iris easily, but she still triumphs over the purple-haired dragon girl and accepts the title of Champion of Unova.

The cameras turn on and Rosa cries because only then does she realize Hugh said he missed her.

* * *

v.

* * *

She comes home in a blaze of glory.

Not much ever happens in Aspertia City, so Rosa's become somewhat of a legend around those parts. She's not afraid to admit that she likes the attention and the recognition she gets, though nothing seems to be getting easier and everything is getting increasingly difficult.

The media is the toughest part of it all. Rosa does what she does best to deal with it: try to ignore it until it dies down. The media is relentless, though, on Unova's most recent Champion.

Rosa is accused of being some sad replacement for ex-Champion Hilda White. She's accused of being a fraud. She's accused of being too young for the position, despite the fact that Iris and Hilda are most probably only a few years older than her. As a result of their allegations, Rosa loses most of her followers and admirers except for those from Aspertia. It feels just like middle school all over again.

She lets go of the position.

Hugh says it's OK and hugs her when she cries because _goddamn it hurts._ It hurts that an escape from cruel people doesn't seem to exist in this world, not in this lifetime. It hurts that she still loves him and she can't get the guts to tell him. It hurts that she can't look her Pokémon in the eye because's she's failed them.

All the hurt seems to go away, however, when Hugh tells her he loves her.

And she cries because she's _elated_ and _Hugh loves her _and no one can hurt her anymore.

* * *

**I'll admit, I was not going to make this ending happy. But I just had to because I couldn't do that to Rosa or else I'd start bawling. Also, it's pretty AU since I made no mention of Team Plasma and didn't really plan to. I wrote this pretty hastily, too, so it may not be up to par :O**

**Words cannot describe how excited I am that it's HughMAY week. All of you SequelShippers go write some amazing fan fiction!**


End file.
